I agreed on $500 for a project and chose a "guaranteed" freelenacer recommeneded by Freelancer (oDesk at that time). I paid $250 for some design work and then the project stopped cold. The freelancer was apparently unable to complete the more difficult part which involved more than just uploadiung and modifying a Wordpress theme (which is all he did). He breached the contract and stopped communicating with me then offered to do work that was "more reasonale" than was in the contract. reched out to Upwork who clearly saw the contract, what was expected and what was done. They were also reminded that THEY recommended this freelancer and guaranteed him. Despite that, rather than refund the money, they offered me $25 credit. Outrageous! I will never do business on Upwork again. There are far too many mediocre coders willing to do the design work but incapable of doing any other coding yet bidding on entire projects and waanting to get paid after the design portion. I could have reskinned a Wordpress theme myself!!!

I'm very sorry to hear this. Unfortunately I have heard stories like yours before and while nothing I say here will compensate for your loss, maybe I can help prevent other clients from going through a similar experience. I happen to be a developer (ie. coder/programmer), not a designer, and I do not apply for any job that requires design work. Now, I am sure there are gifted freelancers equally skilled in design and coding, but if you hire 2 freelancers, one to do the design, which for a website would normally be a PSD mockup of the website, and another to create the theme/template, you can select freelancers who specialize in each area and I think the chances are better that you will receive quality results. Also, you will avoid hiring freelancers who claim to do both but in fact do only design or coding, then secretly hire another feelancer to do the part they are unable to do.

I have a suggestion for Upwork staff as well. Any freelancer who claims to do both design and development then gets exposed as lacking both skills ought to be suspended at minimum and required to modify their profile to honestly depict their skill set. These unscrupulous freelancers take jobs away from legitimate freelancers and victimize clients.

I am sorry to hear it turned out this way and I have checked your ticket. Actions have already been taken against the freelancer's account. However, since it was a fixed-price job, it did not qualify for the Money-Back Guarantee. On fixed-price projects, the client doesn't need to release any funds to the freelancer until work is delivered but once the funds are released, they are not disputable.

I feel very bad for the original poster's plight. That contractor was unprofessional and misrepresented himself.

But basic life lesson: don't hire a a designer to do a programmer's job.

And another life lesson: Wordpress projects are more likely than other types of programming projects to attract incompetent contractors. Lots of wannabes, well-intentioned and otherwise, within their ranks.

And another life lesson: Wordpress projects are more likely than other types of programming projects to attract incompetent contractors. Lots of wannabes, well-intentioned and otherwise, within their ranks.

Do you have any evidence for this claim or are you merely expressing an opinion?

Actions have already been taken against the freelancer's account. However, since it was a fixed-price job, it did not qualify for the Money-Back Guarantee.

Just out of curiosity, then how did the freelancer come with a Money-Back Guarantee? And will Upwork comment on the fact that they proactively recommended this freelancer, like Upwork generally imposes whichever freelancer's they deem a good fit, while the Recommended freelancer did not have sufficient skills? Thanks.

I have just checked an original job posting and it was fixed-price so the Money-Back Guarantee wouldn't have been offered for any applicants to the job. Unfortunately, I will not be able to check which freelancers were recommended after the client posted the job.

I have just checked an original job posting and it was fixed-price so the Money-Back Guarantee wouldn't have been offered for any applicants to the job. Unfortunately, I will not be able to check which freelancers were recommended after the client posted the job.

Thank you for your reply, Valeria. Are you not able to check, because you don't have the privileges to do so, or you unable to check because it's something Upwork doesn't track? If it's the latter, can we please get a statement by the Community Manager, who's been vehemently defending this feature, when it seems that the success of it can't even be tracked. The success of the recommended freelancer is not measured based on hiring rate, in other words it, doesn't matter how often recommended freelancers are chosen over non recommended ones since Upwork promotes them, but the success of the feature is measured based on job completion and success rate. What average private feedback do recommended by Upwork freelancers score? How often are recommended by Upwork freelancers rehired by the same client?